Pages

Monday, August 01, 2011

An Italian Girl Finally Stole My Heart

I’m going to divert from my normally prescient state to a case of absolute infatuation. I have finally fallen for an Italian girl.

First, this is an old soul. A very old soul. Ensconced in the body of a seven year old. I am totally under her spell. If this were Jeremy’s blog it would be in the year 2019 and he would be blogging about his and Tracie’s daughter. Yeah – the shape of things to come, amici.

Andrea is the daughter of Ippolita and Giovanni, who oversee the property of Terre di Talamo in Talamone – in the Maremma. And their daughter, Andrea, pretty much runs things. A day with her and anyone, and I mean anyone, would be smitten with her - under her thumb. She just gets it. She’s engaged, alive, not afraid, very sensitive - let’s just say if I’d ever had a daughter I would have been totally captivated by the energy of one like Andrea. Her favorite phrase is “molto bello” and she can roll those l’s and talk with her hands like a true Italian, which of course is what she is.

I first saw her at the bottling line; she was preparing the wine boxes for the filled bottles. She worked with a determination that I seldom see in adults. And there was joy in her eyes. I tell you, I observe a lot of people and it's not very often that you find one like Andrea with the life force burning so bright.

We walked around the property we were staying at, and she wanted to come and hang out with the older fellows. Mind you, we are between seven and eight times older than her, but she was right there walking up the hill into the vineyards, keeping up. No, leading the elders. Really cool gal.

And then she just kind of took over, walked us down the hill and showed us the cows (Chianina) and the chickens (ruspante, etc) and the lone rabbit and then we walked over and checked out the baby cinghiale (she has really good eyes) and then sat down to a dinner that her mom and dad had prepared. I have to tell you folks, this is one very old soul and she is totally apropos to the times.

No she isn’t into wine – she’s seven after all. But the gal is the future, long, way long, after I am stardust. When she is in the prime of her life, I will be but a memory, at best, and you know what, I am very OK with that. Why? Because she gets it. Because of that she probably will get it long after the adults in charge in the world deciding life events are done with their folly. By then it will be up to her and her generation to see what they can do to keep the world intact, maybe even repair some of the damage the previous generations have wrought upon this very molto bello part of Italy.

i really like this post and have read it several times now. especially the part where she is working on the bottling line and she's happy. made me think of a few things - kids want to be given responsibility, something to do so they can emulate and help their parents. when we don;t trust them with anything real to do, it sends weird messages that, i think, can end up encouraging kids to suppress the urge to be helpful, and to trust their own ability to actually be helpful and important.

also, as the father of two young daughters, both younger than Andrea, i'm conscious of how a lot of the praise that my 5 year old receives regards how cute she looks or her pretty dress, or whatever. i enjoyed how your infatuation with Andrea comes through as being about her wonderful personality and vigor, not her cute outfit.

About Me

Writing about Italian wine and culture. Moving between Italy and America. Passionate about both of my countries. Fed by the energy of Italy, California and Texas. Drawn to the open spaces of America and the small vineyards of Italy.
@italianwineguy
ItalianWineTrail@yahoo[dot]com